Jean Marsh: Veteran stage and screen actress best known as no-nonsense maid

Yahoo

13-04-2025

Jean Marsh, the stage and screen actress who has died at the age of 90, was best known for her role as a no-nonsense parlour maid in classic TV drama Upstairs, Downstairs.
The saga which chronicled the lives of a rich family in London and their servants through various historical events between 1903 and 1930, became a firm favourite of TV viewers when the costume drama aired between 1971 and 1975.
Marsh co-created the hit show along with friend and fellow actress Eileen Atkins, after they both realised in 1969 they had relatives in domestic service.
Years later Upstairs, Downstairs, set in the large townhouse of 165 Eaton Place, won Marsh an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series for her role as hard-bitten but ultimately kind-hearted maid Rose Buck.
She said: 'I think Upstairs, Downstairs has a very special energy. There's something about it that certainly brings out the best in people.'
She was born Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh on July 1 1934, in Stoke Newington, east London.
Her mother worked in a bar and as a theatre dresser, while her father was a handyman and printer's assistant.
Marsh became interested in performing after taking dance and mime classes as therapy for an illness.
She began acting on stage, with a stint at Huddersfield Rep in the 1950s, before moving to London.
TV classics such as The Twilight Zone and Danger Man gave Marsh her earliest TV appearances.
There were also parts in three Doctor Who adventures, most notably as William Hartnell's short-lived companion Sara Kingdom.
Upstairs, Downstairs had originally been devised as a comedy, before it became a hugely successful drama in its original 1970s run.
A minor stroke forced Marsh to take a break in 2011, but she later returned to work.
She reprised the role of Rose Buck in a BBC revamp of the series from 2010 to 2012.
Marsh and Atkins teamed up again to create another successful historical drama with The House of Eliott.
Roles in films such as the fantasy adventure Willow (1988), thriller Frenzy (1972) and war movie The Eagle Has Landed (1976) were among her big screen successes.
Marsh also had an acclaimed stage career and starred in several TV series including Sense And Sensibility, Hawaii Five-O and Murder, She Wrote.
She was married to Jon Pertwee for five years before divorcing in 1960.
There were also relationships with actors Kenneth Haigh and Albert Finney and the director Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
She was made an OBE in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to drama.